The new Netflix film MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, an adaptation of the play by August Wilson, will sadly be the final film performance of actor Chadwick Boseman… but if the trailer below is any indication of what to expect, he’s going out with a bang. Viola David plays the title role and looks excellent here embodying the famous “Mother of the Blues” who rose to fame in Chicago during the 1920s. The cast also includes Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, Taylour Paige and Dusan Brown, and the film is produced by Denzel Washington and Todd Black. Check out the trailer below and tell us your thoughts in the comments.
Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians await trailblazing performer, the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey (Academy Award® winner Viola Davis). Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music. As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman) — who has an eye for Ma’s girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry — spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories revealing truths that will forever change the course of their lives.
Adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM celebrates the transformative power of the blues and the artists who refuse to let society’s prejudices dictate their worth.